Sophie Hatter was the eldest of three girls, and when her father died,
her (step-)mother did not have the financial means to provide for all
three, so she sent the youngest two to apprenticeships and gave Sophie the
apprenticeship in the family hat store, since it would eventually become
hers. She worked diligently, and started talking to the hats as she
made them, predicting their future. One day, a woman came in
complaining and Sophie, quite uncharacteristically, spoke her mind. Unfortunately, the woman was the Witch of the Waste, and vented her anger
by turning Sophie into an old woman. Despite feeling knowing that
the eldest of the three is destined to failure, she set out to seek her
fortune, because, what other options did she have?

As she slowly climbed the hill out of town, she frees a dog entangled in
the bushes, and then later, helps a scarecrow, which she wishes could come
to life and help her out. Being old, she went very slowly and became
tired much more quickly than she expected. As night was fell she
really wanted a warm fire. The wizard Howl’s castle, which was
constantly moving from place to place, rumbled by. Desperate, she
told it to stop, which it did, and it let her in.

Once inside, she saw that Howl was out, and that there was only his
apprentice Michael. She stayed the night by the cozy fire. She
woke up in the middle of the night, and discovered that the fire was
actually a fire-demon named Calcifer, which had made some contract with
Howl that it wanted to get out of, only it could not reveal the nature of
the contract. Since Sophie wanted to have her spell removed, they
made a bargain that she would try to discover and break the contract, and
he would study her spell and try to break it. Since Howl did not
come back in the morning, she started cleaning the place to perhaps earn
her keep (as well as to try to find the hearts of young girls he was said
to eat). Howl eventually came back, not entirely happy with the
cleaning, but did not kick her out. He did not specifically allow
her to stay, but Michael said that Howl had never officially let him stay,
either, so she kept on doing the cleaning and cooking.

On the inside, the castle was fairly cozy, the size of a small
house. The door had a wheel with four colors, which opened onto
different locations depending on which color was selected. Calcifer
kept the castle moving. Michael mostly practiced spells, and
occasionally handled sales of spells to the people at some of the
locations. Depending on his mood, Howl was either making
high-powered spells for the King, or more frequently, was out courting
young girls. He was very charming, but heartless: he would
pursue them non-stop until they fell in love with him, at which point he
lost interest. Currently he was interested in Lettie, Sophie’s
sister. She and Michael had taken the seven-league boots (seven
leagues in one step) and tried to visit the with that Lettie was
apprenticing with before Howl got there, but arrived too late. Michael was in love with her other sister, who was charmed with him as
well.

Disaster shortly overtook Howl: the seven-league boots he had made
for the King’s army had worked splendidly, and the King was contemplating
appointing him the Royal Wizard and sending him out to look for the King’s
brother. Prince Justin had vanished looking for Wizard Suliman, who
had also vanished, and Howl had no desire to vanish, too. Besides,
he was trying to avoid the Witch of the Waste, who had put a curse on him
last year. So he needed someone to blacken his name to the King, so
that he would appoint someone else. Sophie seemed perfect: she
could be his mother, and say all sorts of nasty things about him, since
she seemed to always be in a bit of a row with him anyway.

Michael had been practicing a spell which he could not get right. Sophie tried to help him, with it, not having much success, although they
did try to catch a falling star. It said it was wrong to be caught
and avoided them to plunge to its death in the water. So Michael had
to admit to Howl that he could not figure out the spell. Howl looked
at it, saw it was the wrong spell, and he hastily took them to the fourth
location in the door (which turned out to go to Wales). His spell
had been swapped with his nephew’s homework paper, which he went to
retrieve from the teacher. Miss Angorian had recognized it as a
spell and saved it. She gave it back to him. Howl asked about
the homework poem that Michael assumed was a spell; Miss Angorian
quoted the rest of it, and Howl realized that it was the curse. The
Witch had caught up with him.

Howl took Sophie to Kingsbridge to blacken his name, but before taking
her to the King, he brought her to his teacher, Mrs. Pentstemmon. She told Sophie that she was a witch, that she spoke life into
things. The discussion also revealed that Howl had a similar level
of magic to the Witch of the Waste, and seemed to be going bad just as she
had, which was probably related to both of them having a contract with a
fire-demon. Then, Sophie went to the King, told him about Howl’s
failings, which convinced the King that Howl was the right man for the
job: Howl had agreed to do it too quickly, but the fact that he sent
someone to blacken his name to get out of it showed that he was a capable
man. After seeing the King, Sophie runs into the Witch, who had just
killed Mrs. Pentstemmon.

Howl received a long-winded message from the King informing him that he
was appointed Royal Wizard with the task of finding Prince Justin. He promptly left to court the very beautiful Miss Angorian. While he
was away, a man arrives and gives a brief message before transforming back
into a dog.

Howl, terrified of the Witch finding him, decided to move the physical
location of the castle to the Hatter’s shop, which was for sale, and was a
location that the Witch was not familiar with. He asked Sophie her
preferences, she said that she wanted something with flowers. Then
he insisted on attending his teacher’s funeral, but did so disguised as a
black dog to avoid the Witch. It did not work, and the Witch and
Howl had a long fight magical clouds whirling about above the ocean. The battle was mostly about creating illusions to fool the other into
attacking the illusion. Howl ended up successfully fooling the
Witch, despite her greater experience and escapes.

Howl successfully moved the castle, but the procedure involved taking
Calcifer out of the fireplace. During that time, Sophie recognized
him as a falling star. He later told her that he was scared of dying
and Howl offered to help him live, so they made a contract. The new
location had a door to a vast field of flowers, which they picked and sold
in the hat store, which became a flower store. Miss Angorian visited
while everyone is a way, and Sophie was very suspicious.

Sophie got into another row with Howl and ended up cursing some
daffodils. The next day the water with the nutrition spell they were
in turned into very caustic weed-killer, which Sophie angrily sprayed onto
the weeds in the mansion that is one of the new door locations. While there, her mother showed up to the mansion. Her mother married
someone rich, and was wearing the hat that Sophie said would find
wealth. Her mother recognized her. Her sisters arrive as
well. While her family toured the castle, the scarecrow that Sophie
met the first day came in the door, and fell onto the skull that Howl and
Michael used for spells. Now having a mouth, he delivered a message
from the Witch that Miss Angorian is being held at her castle.

As pandemonium ensued, Sophie realizes that she was the cause of Miss
Angorian’s capture, which would certainly bring Howl to the Witch and to
his doom, so she grabed the seven-league boots and went to the castle,
where she was promptly immobilized. The scarecrow showed up and began
a magic battle with the Witch like that with Howl. Then Howl arrived,
and together they destroyed the Witch. Sophie had freed herself with
her walking stick which she has talked to so much that it has, unbeknownst
to her, become alive.

They went back to the castle, where Miss Angorian appeared. She was
the Witch’s fire-demon, and she was in need of a new human. She took
Calcifer out of the fireplace and squeezed him. Both he and Howl cried
out in pain. Sophie perceived that the bargain was that Howl gave
Calcifer his heart, presumably in exchange for adding to his magic. She told her staff to beat Miss Angorian, which it proceeded to do, causing
Miss Angorian to drop Calcifer. By then, Sophie had realized that
her magic is that she speaks life into things, so she spoke a thousand
years of life to Calcifer and took Howl’s heart from him. Calcifer
realized the contract was ended, so he joyfully flew up the chimney. Sophie put Howl’s heart back in him, and he cast a spell that destroyed
Miss Angorian. Upon her death, all the Witch’s spells ended. The scarecrow turned into Wizard Suliman, the dog turned back into Prince
Justin, and Sophie returned to her true age. The book ends with
Prince Justin and Lettie, Michael and Sophie’s other sister, and Howl and
Sophie happily in love. Calcifer returned, partly because it was
raining outside.

The magic in this book is different from most fantasy books. Usually, it is a simple matter of doing the right procedure and getting
the expected result. Jones may have incorporated some actual
concepts from witchcraft, as the relational magic is guided by relational
rules, secrecy, and is almost always harmful and controlling. Other
magic is a combination of right procedure and innate power. Magic
must be learned, and seems to be learnable by anyone—Michael and Lettie
(apprenticed to a witch specializing in honey spells) seem to have no
innate ability. However, some people seem to have a certain innate
ability, and these people become the powerful Witches and Wizards. Magic users can generally identify magic, even who’s style of magic a
particular spell is, although research is often necessary to figure out
the spell enough to break it. Spells seem to have a gag-order
component, so that the one under the spell cannot tell someone that they
are enchanted, although they are free to talk about things the other
person already knows. The gag order can be enforced by events
happening, seemingly naturally, that prevent the enchanted from having a
chance to say anything.

This is one of those young adult books that is a fun read for all
ages. I was reminded of it when I chanced on the google.uk logo
looked like the Miyazaki movie of the same title; the day was Jone’s
birthday. Since the movie was good, I decided to read the actual
book. The movie follows the book reasonably closely, although the
book obviously has a few more details and the movie takes some liberties
with the end. The main theme is that, as an old woman, Sophie has
nothing to lose and acts herself, which results in her becoming her true,
lovable, successful self. A related sub-theme is that Howl is not
the evil man he seems to be, which I expect is sort of formulaic in love
stories. There is also a sub-theme either that making deals for
magical powers inevitably corrupts, regardless of the original quality of
the heart, or that a person without a heart inevitably becomes
heartless. The Witch was apparently not originally evil, and both
Calcifer and Howl realize that the contract is having a negative effect on
them. They would like to get out of the contract, but since the
contract included not telling anyone, they cannot. One could see
this as a Faustian bargain rescued by the life-giving power of femininity,
were one inclined to that viewpoint.

This is definitely a nicely crafted story, worthy of a Google Doodle.

Review: 9

The story is well-crafted and well-written. The
two main characters develop throughout the book, as they understand
themselves and each other better. The pacing is good, with a steady
unraveling of the mystery of the contract. The only failing, not
uncommon, is that the book wraps up the loose ends; the world is no
bigger than the book, and leaves nothing for the imagination.

Characters

Sophie Hatter

Eldest of three daughers. Has
the gift of giving life, but does not realize it and thinks she is
of little value. Being old gives her the freedom to act
herself without concerning herself with what other people
think. Is very forceful when the occasion arises.

Howell Jenkins

Known as Howl, he grew up in Wales,
researched magic for his thesis, and apparently found a way into an
entirely different world. Although he has a reputation for
eating young girl’s hearts, it is only figuratively true. He
cannot love because he has no heart, and is extremely vain to try to
win girl’s hearts. His true heart is quite soft, as Calcifer
points out. He seems to have a large amount of innate magical
ability, but it seems that he and Calcifer can use their combined
magic together.

Calcifer

Usually called a fire-demon, he is a
falling star that was rescued from death by Howl. He powers
much of Howl’s magic, as well as giving him otherwise unobtainable
information. He generally simply moves the castle and provides
a heat source for hot water and cooking.

Michael

An orphan boy that was let into the
castle by Calcifer, and whom Howl took on as his apprentice.

The King

Seems to be a good king, with a young
daughter that plays around the throne. Has reasonable insight
into human nature, enough to want to find out whether Howl’s
immediate answer means he is a charlatan or simply not being able to
say no to a king.

Mrs. Pentstemmon

Howl’s retired teacher. She
quickly identifies that Sophie is under a spell, and does her best
to inform Sophie of her abilities.

Miss Angorian

The Witch of the Waste’s fire-demon.

Fanny Hatter

Sophie’s step-mother. She seems
to have a genuine concern for the two older girls, who are not
hers. Is very pretty and seems... upwardly mobile

Magic Items

Howl and Calcifer’s
Contract

Seems to be that Howl gives Calcifer
his heart, which keeps Calcifer alive, and in exchange Calcifer must
use his magic for Howl. The contract forbids them from
discussion the terms of the contract. Seems to create a
symbiosis whereby the human and the star are, in some fashion, the
same entity, as they work together and knew each other’s thoughts.

Sophie’s spell

Her body outwardly becomes that of an old woman. Her joints
are aged as well, although not entirely—she is quite obviously an
unusually spry old woman.

Sophie’s words

When Sophie absentmindedly talks to
things, her words become the literal reality.

Castle

The inside of the castle is
physically located in one actually location. The castle
resizes itself to that location. The door can open to multiple
locations, selectable via a color wheel from inside. The door
can be opened by magic by Howl (and Miss Angorian), as well as from
the inside by Calcifer. The castle has a physical exterior
that Calcifer moves around, although it has some strange
properties. Moving it quickly tires Calcifer.

Sophie’s walking stick

Has been talked to and given life so
much that it became alive and will obey commands.

Howl’s clothes

The clothes are not created by magic,
but can be repaired by magic, resized, and recolored. The
recoloring seems to be a coating over the original material.

Spells of power

Spells of power usually have
intentional errors or riddles to prevent them from being used
thoughtlessly.

Seven league boots

Boots that take the wearer seven
leagues in one step, enabling fast travel. These have an
element of design, and can be produced en-masse.